LEK Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I have decided we will introduce a board game night here in addition to playing games during school times. The theory at the moment is that I will play a game with one child and hubby will play with the other (while the baby hopefully SLEEPS) thus giving them both one-on-one time and dedicated educational games geared towards their current level. We have an advanced 5yo and we have plenty of games at her level and a little beyond ready to move onto but I am stuck for ideas for the gifted 3yo. Intellectually she is operating at about a 1st/2nd grade level in most areas however on the other hand she is still 3, it needs to be age and maturity appropriate (especially attention span wise). Any suggestions or advice? She loves games but at the minute all our age appropriate games are too easy and the next level are too long/not appealing to a 3yo. TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Could you give some specific examples of the games that are too easy and games that are too long/not appealing for her? that might help with coming up with good suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 We skipped kids' games entirely, and looked for adult games that were fairly short and could be adapted. My DD started playing Carcassone at age 3, for example, but that was with a lot of prompting and using only the basic tile set, so a game for 3 players is only about 30 minutes. Once she had a good vocabulary, scrabble, played tiles UP and with a word length limit, worked well-she could pick the tiles she needed to play words and focus on placing them for the best scores. After we played that way for a couple of years we moved to playing tiles hidden, but have kept a length limit in play for DH and I (so we can't bingo on triple word scores, for example). One thing we've discovered-most games sold for kids tend to be very luck based. Adult games were easier for the grownups to tweak to keep them competitive for a child player. So in Catan, DH and I will hold back on placing settlements once we get to 7-8 victory points, and build development cards or work on getting a longest road instead. Eventually SOMEONE will get to the point where it's obvious that they have the 10 points needed to win, but by holding back some at the end, we can tweak it so that the last few rounds really ARE simply the luck of the draw, and there's not a case of the two people who have been playing strategy games seriously for about 30 years totally smoking the one who has only been on the planet 7. Other games that have been a hit around here-Forbidden Island (cooperative), Survive! (competitive), Clue, Mastermind, Blokus (probably not at 3-I think she was about 5 when we got that one). Atlas vs. Zeus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowbee Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Our favorites at that age. Card games (uno, crazy 8's, go fish, etc), Blockus Jr, Rush Hour Jr, Memory, Sequence for kids, Honey Bee Tree, Monopoly Jr, Hoot Owl Hoot and then the Chicken game from the same makers of Hoot Owl Hoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeanM Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 My dc really liked the Family Pastimes cooperative games. We had "A Beautiful Place," "Sleeping Grump," and "Harvest Time." I'm pretty sure my younger ds was playing chess and checkers at 4, but I don't think he was up to that at 3 yo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a27mom Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 My kids like card games, UNO, phase 10, etc... These can easily be modified to be short, played open handed etc...as needed for a little one too. Regular cards work well too. Many have a good combo of luck and strategy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2smartones Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Uno, Set, Quirkle, Blokus... all great games for an advanced 3 y/o. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEK Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 Thanks guys, off to google some of these suggestions. Any more ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Labrynth was great for our son before he was reading - its a puzzle game that always changes and can run pretty fast. also we love Quirkle, but my son wasnt ready for it yet at 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amie Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I don't think he's "gifted", but my 3 1/2 year old wanted to learn to play Blokus with us last night. He did pretty well. Classics like Checkers and Connect Four are fun too. Could he begin getting familiar with Chess? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plateau Mama Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 My 4yo loves quirkle, sorry & othello. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 You could start doing just pawns games with a chess set. Then after that is mastered you add one piece, like, a pawns and rooks game, then a pawns and bishops game, etc. Another cute and good game: Chateau Roquefort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reign Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 You could start doing just pawns games with a chess set. Then after that is mastered you add one piece, like, a pawns and rooks Thank you for this idea! I don't know why I never thought of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 I Spy-type games have been a big hit with my 3yo. Busy Town is a simple game, but involves lots of searching for hidden objects. She also likes Trouble (maybe it's just the popping die). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebunny Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Card games- Go fish, crazy 8, UNO.. Board games: Checkers, Chutes and Ladders, Ludo. Other games: Jenga, Lego. By far, her favorite was Chutes and Ladders. In India, it's sold as "Snakes and Ladders" and stepping on the head of the snake= decreasing numbers. .:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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